Money and politics mix for an evil brew, panelists say
JANESVILLE — Clean Wisconsin politics? That phrase might elicit chuckles these days, and that’s dangerous for democracy.
That was one of the themes that emerged at a forum on campaign-finance reform Monday night.
Common Cause in Wisconsin organized the panel discussion that included three local Democratic legislators, former Democratic legislator Tim Cullen of Janesville and Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause.
Heck had tried to get a Republican legislator to join the group, as well as a local political commentator, but both bowed out for scheduling reasons.
About 25 people attended the forum. Most if not all who spoke seemed to support reforms and asked questions, so the session was mostly information sharing.
The lawmakers said the system is spinning out of control.
“I think it should be a battle of words, and not a battle of bucks, which is what it’s coming to,” said Rep. Chuck Benedict of Beloit.
“We can’t allow democracy to be sold to the highest bidder,” said Rep. Kim Hixson of Whitewater.
Cullen said the influence of money makes for bitter partisanship, keeps the people’s business from getting done, corrupts government and makes citizens cynical.
Cullen warned that lawyers for both parties would find loopholes in any reform.
However, requiring disclosure of where the money comes from could reduce the amount of money spent, because donors often don’t want their names revealed, Cullen said.
One of the bills expected to pass in this legislative session would attack the problem of “issue ads” that run within 60 days of an election. Anyone running those ads would have to disclose who is paying for them, just as the candidates already have to do for their contributors.
Sen. Judy Robson of Beloit said her Republican colleagues are just as frustrated as the Democrats about these ads, which confuse the public and drown out the candidates’ messages.
The other bill at the top of the legislative agenda would address the huge sums that have poured in to influence state Supreme Court races in recent years. The bill would publicly finance Supreme Court races, paid for with an increase in the voluntary check-off on income-tax forms.
Heck called the bills an amazing step forward after decades of no reforms.
Heck said after the forum that issue ads backing both Democrats and Republicans are to be faulted. He said the attorney who represents GOP-leaning Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce on campaign finance reform is the same one that represents the Democrat-leaning Wisconsin Education Association Council.
“The folks in power like to keep things the way they are,” Heck said.
Sep 28, 2009 at 10:10 p.m.
Sep 28, 2009 at 6:01 p.m.
Sep 23, 2009 at 10:54 p.m.
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lvbald537 yes 10 of the TOP donors to Ryan were from those three industries. So, more than half of Baldwin’s top 20 are unions. If you are defending MadeinUSA’s comments you failed. His unequivocal statement that MOST of his money came from those industries is wrong. Most of Ryan’s money came from individual donations, not PAC’s or industries, but people.
Sep 23, 2009 at 5:57 p.m.
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I don't understand why these legislators say these emphatic statements, but still leave the backdoor open.
"voices" is right. Rep. Hixson was on the good end of over one half of a million dollars from WEAC. In a State Assembly race against a very pro education Debi Towns, I have to scratch my head. Rep. Hixson could have made a public or private statement asking WEAC to save their money and use it directly towards improvements in our education system. With school districts scrambling to make their budgets work out, WEAC is more than willing to buy seats in the Senate and Assembly. The real discouraging part is that the candidates have no qualms about taking that money.
Sep 23, 2009 at 3:51 p.m.
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What's Paul Ryan have to do with this? Common Cause is a state, not federal, group...and the legislators at the event are state legislators, not members of Congress.
Sep 23, 2009 at 1:34 p.m.
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Actually, if you will check, for the years 2007-2008, of the top 20 contributors to Paul Ryan's campaign committee, most were insurance, banking and investment companies. Since the companies themselves are not allowed to contribute, 98.2% of the total came from Political Action Committees associated with those companies, and 1.8% came from individuals associated with those same companies. And for the record, I do not belong to a union. Check for yourself at www.opensecrets.org .
Sep 23, 2009 at 1:04 p.m.
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RAF; that must be the dollar amount that was listed in the union newsletter mailed to madeinUSA - we all know that is gospel.
Sep 23, 2009 at 10:59 a.m.
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“We can’t allow democracy to be sold to the highest bidder,” said Rep. Kim Hixson of Whitewater.
What?!?! Why else did WEAC feel the need to spend $537,000 on his last re-election effort?
What on Earth was Kim Hixson doing at a forum on this topic?
Sep 23, 2009 at 12:24 a.m.
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MadeinUSA this is the fourth time, that I have read, where you lied about Ryan's donations. I guess you are either to lazy to look up information on your own or you are purposely lying for other reasons.
For the record, most of his received donations (+50%) came from individuals.
Sep 22, 2009 at 6:51 p.m.
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sannio...if you think the internet is the solution....then you are part of the problem.
You need look no further than the Gazette posts to see what idiots people really are.
Too many people think that if it said so on the net...it must be true.
And, most people are too lazy to do their own research...and have too short of memories to remember how the politicians screw them...over and over.
Sep 22, 2009 at 5:58 p.m.
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I'm hopeful the Internet will cure this problem by letting people learn about what they're getting before they vote for someone. Of course, people will have to sit down, and do the learning. It's a small fee to stay free. Should I quote Rush? OK, I will:
"You don't get something for nothing
You don't get freedom for free
You won't get wise with the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dreams might be”.
Rush 2112 "Something for Nothing"
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